The flood began to subside, but it was a mighty river yet, and would still
be so when all the flood was gone. They passed the mouths of great rivers
to right and to left, but they did not know their names, nor whence they
came. The air grew much warmer and they were very glad indeed now that
they had the sail, which, allied with the current, carried them on as fast
as they wished.
Shif'less Sol lay lazily under the sail, his limbs relaxed, and his face a
picture of content.
"I could float on an' on forever," he said sleepily, "an' I don't care how
long it takes to git to New Or-lee-yuns. I think I'm goin' to like that
place. I saw a trapper once who had been thar, an' he said you could be
jest ez lazy an' sleepy ez you wished an' nobody would blame you--they
kinder look upon it ez the right thing, an' that suits me. He said them
Spaniards an' French had orange trees about. You could lay in your bed,
reach a han' out o' the window, pull an orange off the tree, suck it, an'
then go back to sleep without ever havin' disturbed the cover. I never
seed an orange, but I know it's nice."
The same day they rowed the boat a few miles up a small but deep and very
clear river that emptied into the Mississippi from the east.
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